Instructor: Prof. Pamela E. Mack
Office: Hardin 122, phone: 656-5356, e-mail: pammack@clemson.edu
Office Hours: MWF 8:45-10, 11:10-12 and by appointment.  I'm often in afternoons and and Thursday but email me for an appointment to be sure.

Class meetings: MWF 10:10-11 Hardin 233

E-mail and Web pages:
this syllabus on the web: http://www.clemson.edu/caah/history/FacultyPages/PamMack/syl323.html
 

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is a survey of the history of American technology from the American industrial revolution to the present. The goal of the course is to think about the role of technological change in society with the help of the broader perspective that history provides. To that end, the course will not cover evolution of every significant technology, but rather will focus on different views of technology and discuss in detail selected case studies.   This is a writing intensive course (1 W) and learning to write effectively about these issues is one of the central goals of the course.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS: There is now a textbook available for use in this course, but even it will serve more as a resource than as a survey of the course. There is no standard interpretation of the history of technology; the textbook, the professor, and the other readings are likely to disagree. Analyzing and drawing conclusions from the reading will be central to the course, so it is essential that you do the reading and come prepared to discuss it in class. Seats will be assigned so that the instructor can more easily take attendance and encourage class participation. Because no one book provides an overview for this course you will quickly find yourself lost if you do not attend class. Six absences will be allowed without penalty. Coming late or leaving early will count as one half an absence. Excuses do not have to be given for the six allowed absences, but it is expected that these will cover scheduled events (including  extracurricular activities in most cases) and minor illnesses. Additional absences will be excused only for for official university activities, emergencies, serious illness, or funerals. Students with more than six absences will be penalized 3 points for every additional absence on their final grade for the course. The class is excused if the instructor does not arrive within 10 minutes of the scheduled starting time.

Grading will be based on two scheduled tests, writing a weblog,  a group project,  a term paper, and a final exam. The tests and the final will be entirely essay questions (essay writing help ).  On the first test, if you don't like your grade you can rewrite your essay on a takehome basis.  Your grade for the test will then be the average between your first and second attempts.

The goal of the Weblog assignment is to allow more personal and more informal discussion of the reading and the material covered in class and to practice writing about issues that do not have one right answer.   Each student will create (I will teach you how) and write their own weblog discussing the reading and issues from this course and the news.  You are encouraged to include links to interesting web sites in your blog.   You should write to your weblog at least once a week and everything you have written through the semester should add up to at least 2500 words.  You will lose 5 points if you have not written 4 entries by Feb. 14.  The Weblog will be graded on whether you ask interesting questions and provide thoughtful analysis.  This assignment is quite flexible; you can write about what interests you so long as it has something to do with the class and you at least occasionally mention the reading. The professor's weblog is at:  http://hist323.blogspot.com/   

For the group project the class will divide up into groups, each group taking responsibility for one of the assignments in the Russell and Collins books.  Each group will write a web page with an outline of key issues and additional links on the topic (here's a good example).  Each member of the group must hand in a statement saying what their particular contribution was to the group project.  The group projects will generally get a group grade, but I reserve the right to give individual grades if I perceive that someone makes a contribution significantly larger or smaller than the other group members.

The term paper should be about 6-8 typed pages and should be documented with footnotes or endnotes. I am looking for papers  that deal with attitudes towards technology and history of culture, not just with some technical development. Papers must be analytical; that is, they must ask a question or state a thesis and then develop an argument using specific evidence to prove a point. Papers will be evaluated primarily on how well you use evidence and lay out your argument to effectively prove your point.  Late papers will be downgraded one point for each calendar day late, up to a maximum penalty of a 65 for any paper that receives at least a 75.  They may be handed in as a Microsoft Word attachment to an e-mail to pammack@clemson.edu

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:
As members of the Clemson University community, we have inherited Thomas Green Clemson’s vision of this institution as a ‘high seminary of learning.’  Fundamental to this vision is a mutual commitment to truthfulness, honor, and responsibility, without which we cannot earn the trust and respect of others.  Furthermore, we recognize that academic dishonesty detracts from the value of a Clemson degree.  Therefore, we shall not tolerate lying, cheating, or stealing in any form.  This includes representing someone else's work as your own or handing in the same paper to two different courses without permission of the instructors.

GRADING:

• Two tests 15 % each
• Term paper 20%
• Weblog 15%
• Group project 15%
• Final exam 20%
• Class participation will be taken into account in cases of borderline grades

EXTRA CREDIT:  If you attend one of the extra credit events and hand in a page of reasonable notes (or a discussion of what you learned if notetaking is impractical) you will get one point extra credit on your final grade.  There will be a number of opportunities, but I will only give one point of extra credit (you can't go to more events and get more points).  Please only go to lectures if you can stay for the whole event (usually an hour and a half); it is important to behave politely when we have outside speakers visiting.  

TEXTS: Three required books are available in the bookstore: Alan I Marcus and Howard P. Segal, Technology in America: A Brief History, Edmund Russell, War and Nature, and Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch, The Golem at Large.    In addition occasional readings on the World Wide Web are required--if you go to the web version of the syllabus ( http://www.clemson.edu/caah/history/FacultyPages/PamMack/syl323.html ) you will find links that will take you directly to each reading assignment.

SCHEDULE: Readings are listed under each lecture or discussion topic.  Underlined lecture titles are links that lead to notes.
 
 
 
 

Jan. 12	hand out syllabus, introduction
14	America before industry . Read Marcus chapter 1
17	MLK Holiday--no class
19	The British Industrial Revolution .    Blackburn, Cotton, and the Industrial Revolution
21	Transportation .  Read Marcus pp. 41-55
24	The Factory  Read Marcus pp. 55-68
26	Lowell Read Lowell Mill Girls
28	The Railroad  Read   Railroad History
31	The Telegraph  Read A Brief History of the Morse Telegraph
Feb.  2	The American System  Read Marcus intro to part II and ch. 3
4	Agriculture and markets
7	Electrification .   Read Marcus ch. 4.
9	Urbanization.  Read Marcus ch. 5.
11	The Centennial . Read Centennial 1876
14	Review and discussion of hopes and fears of technology
16	In-class test,  questions
18	Radical Labor and Scientific Management .  Read  Workingman's Hero or Fatcat's Friend?
21	The Assembly Line and Tractors .  Read Marcus pp. 183-198
23	Industrial Research and Consumer Culture: Household Technology . Read Marcus 174-183
25	World War I . Read Marcus pp, 198-205
28	Russell chs. 1-2, web page, notes
Mar.  2	Russell chs. 3-4, web page, notes
4	Russell chs. 5-6, web page, notes
7	Russell chs. 7-8, web page, notes
9	Russell chs. 9-10, web page, notes
11	Russell chs. 11-12, web page, notes
14	Depression . Read Marcus ch. 7
16	Second In-Class Test
17	Extra credit opportunity: lecture by Patrick Forrester, astronaut, 7 pm, Tillman Hall Auditorium
18	No Class--work on papers
21-25	Spring Break: No Class
28	World War II . Read Marcus ch. 8
	Preregistration note: information on history courses can be found at: http://www.clemson.edu/caah/history/undergrad/courses.htm
30	Manhattan Project    Read  Hiroshima: Was it Necessary? (both parts), The Doomsday Clock
30	Extra Credit: lecture about Mars, 7 pm Tillman Hall Auditorium
Apr. 1	Postwar science and technology  Read ch. 1 of Science the Endless Frontier
4	**Annotated Bibliography for Paper Due**  The Cold War , read Marcus ch. 9
6	Technology as a Social Question , read Marcus ch. 10
8	Technology and the Individual, read Marcus ch. 11, web page
11	Read Collins and Pinch intro. and ch. 1, web page, notes
13	Read Collins and Pinch ch. 2, background, web page, notes
15	Read Collins and Pinch ch. 3, web page, notes
18	class will meet--video
20	No Class  **Paper Due **
22	Read Collins and Pinch chs . 4 & 5, web page ch.4, web page ch. 5, notes
25	Read Collins and Pinch ch. 6, web page, notes
27	Read Collins and Pinch ch. 7 and conclusion, web page, notes
29	Review .  Hand in printout of weblog.
May   5	1 pm  final exam